Lithuania should have 4 universities after reform - working group

Lithuania should have two international-level universities and two technological universities after a planned reform of the current higher education system, a prime minister-appointed working group has decided.

Vilnius University (VU) and a new university to be created in Kaunas are seen as international-level universities.

Mykolas Romeris University and the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences would be merged into VU. Šiauliai University would also become part of VU.

The Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Vytautas Magnus University (VDU), Aleksandras Stulginskis University and Lithuanian Sports University (LSU) would be merged to create a broad-scope university in the country's second-biggest city.

The two proposed technological universities would be based in Vilnius and Klaipėda.

The group also proposes that the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LMSU) should continue as a separate specialized higher education body and that the Vilnius Academy of Arts and the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre be merged into a single academy.

"We have a very strong Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. The group's proposal is to leave it as an independent specialized (school), or an academy," Ramojus Reimeris, acting head of the research and higher education monitoring and analysis center MOSTA, said in a news conference on Tuesday.

"We propose to merge the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and the Vilnius Academy of Arts into one large academy of arts that could operate as a nationwide network," he said.

Dalius Misiūnas, CEO of the state-owned energy holding company Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy) and a member of the working group, stressed during the news conference that the group's proposals were yet to be assessed by politicians.

"What you see here is our recommendation. That does not mean that everything will be done that way. Our recommendations are now going to the government and will then likely go to the Seimas; they can still be altered," he said.